A Little Concern

It was JT, during one of his times with us that summer, that discovered a possible new problem. We hadn't actually even been in the basement/garage area very much after we got busy working on the walls. JT called us from down there and he was excited. We went below to find him bouncing in the far north corner. The ground around him was wet and trembling and immediately reminded me of how the ice floating on the swamp had looked. We both shouted for him to get away. As we got closer, we could see a sheen of water over the sand. Poking at it only proved it was pretty solid. It was an area about 2 1/2 foot to 3 foot across. W stepped on the edge of it and it only moved if he forced his foot into it. Even then it stayed solid. It was wet, but it wasn't "quick". You could make the small area "tremble", but you didn't sink, no matter how you dug in. We did some more checking and everyone agreed that once the cement floor was poured, it would float even if that spot turned quick. In fact we were told if the house was all on quicksand it would be safer in an earthquake then a house on rock. Interesting theory, but I hoped to never find out. That wet spot stayed all summer and continued to tremble, but must not have been in a active spring. The boys were fascinated by it and I kept catching them over there bouncing on the sand. It could look dry for days, but if you moved you feet over the sand, pretty soon the sheen of water would be back and the sand would tremble in a solid wet block. We kept doing inspections of the rest of the basement/garage and the area outside between the hill and the cement blocks and never found anymore wet spots. It was just a fascinating corner the boys liked to show everyone who came, and we lost our fear of it. Quicksand is a very fascinating phenomenom and I've never lost my interest in it.